Hardly Able
by Night-Hunter2004
Summary: Forgetting your past is no guarantee it won't find you, as Shido finds out on a case. Finished.
1. Chapter 1

"Ssssshiiiido..."

In the darkness of his coffin, the vampire's eyes blinked open, staring at the lid inches from his face. With his exceptional senses, even in total blackness, he might have been able to see it. "Wh-?"

"Ssshiiiido...come to me Shido..."

A slow blink, as he tried to place the voice. Female, seductive...very, very seductive...A remembered flash of golden hair lifting where there was no breeze - a deep rose colored gown of silk dripping with pearls and crystals...and blood... His hand trembled as he reached up to open the lid of his enclosed bed.

"Sssshido..."

"No -NO! Go away..." He slammed the lid of the coffin back, blinking once at the brightness of the dim twilight; springing out of the confinement as if moved by terror. The room was empty. Outside the room there was the sound of traffic and a few stray lights as people went about their business unaware.

Standing by the window, he pushed his hair back and looked out, his eyes scanning not just the street nine stories below, but the buildings and rooftops round about. Nothing seemed to move, to attract his attention. Nothing seemed out of place. And then...and then...

Even with his trained senses and the skills of his profession, the vision was gone before he registered he had seen it. Eyes, he thought later. Red, feral, unblinking eyes...but only for a brief instant and hovering midway between his window and the next building - which would make them roughly 100 feet off the ground. Shido blinked, his ears and mind straining for another sound of the voice, but he heard nothing but the normal night noises.

He jumped a foot when the phone rang, his hand shaking a little as he picked up the receiver. "Yes?"

Yayoi's voice was tense. "Shido? I need your help..."

The vampire detective listened intently for a moment, his mind taking refuge in his work and steadying his nerves. When Yayoi was done, he nodded to himself. "I am on my way..." He hung up the phone, and grabbed up his trench coat from the chair on his way out the door.

Shido slipped from the shadows into the periphery of police cars and video camera lights, as Yayoi came to meet him.

"Are you alright?" the woman asked, frowning, as he glanced nervously around the area.

"Fine, fine...breed?"

"Looks like it – three killed, one missing - a little boy..." She caught his wince and nodded slowly. "Yes, I have a description."

Shido nodded, turning his collar up slightly and sighing inwardly as Yayoi's boss approached them. Unlike his usual hostile manner however, he seemed genuinely grateful for Shido's help.

"We have witnesses who saw the boy taken" He pointed off past the glare of lights around the wreckage. "That way, they told us – he was taken that way. They say he was alive and only slightly injured if at all – Mr. Shido, we need him back."

"Mmm..." Shido looked around again, still feeling that someone was looking at him, but seeing nothing. "Not that it matters, but who is he?"

"He is the Prime Minister's grandson," the detective told him. "His only grandson...and his son and daughter-in-law died back there. Please, you need to-"

Shido instinctively stepped aside as the detective reached for his coat front, one hand blocking the touch, as he nodded. "I'll do all I can to find him..."

"Bring him back alive - I know I've said mean things about you in the past, and I still don't like what you are. But if you can do this, I will owe you - we will all owe you." He sounded shaken. "You have to get him back-"

Yayoi rolled her eyes at the detective as she took her boss gently by the arm and walked him away for a moment. Shido looked around again, taking in the actual scene of the deaths. Two wrecked cars formed a t-shape at one side of the road, one of them on its side. Ambulances and personnel made a garish pattern of light and shadow against the night around the wrecked cars. Doors slammed and one ambulance took off into the night. For the other, there was no hurry as the three casualties were loaded into the back.

He searched the area around the cars, swearing softly at the mess the attendants had made of the scene. Even so his keen eyes spotted a partial footprint in dark shiny blood. Without another word, he slipped down the alleyway following the marks, his eyes scanning the road, finding mark after mark, although growing fainter.

The end of the alley was a factory wall, but the ladder that went up to the roof was in good repair, and Shido went up it with hardly a thought. On top of the three-story building, he could see flat roofs a block in any direction, mostly broken here and there with piping and air conditioner units. He stood, looking around for a moment, then down at the roof. The dark tar of the roof cover almost - but not quite - hid the smudge of blood. From the glow, it was breed blood - even better. Shido took another look in that direction, using all his focus and ability. Still nothing – it had quite a head start on him.

He stepped down from the roof edge and followed the glowing smudges across the roof. Partway there, he noticed there were two roofs - and a small gap between them. He leaped on to the next roof, and looked down. And the smudges were nowhere to be seen.

"Damn," he grumbled, turning back and looking over the edge of the roof into the narrow gulf between the two buildings.

Red floating eyes looked back at him, moving closer, and in his head, the voice sounded again.

"Shiiiido...Ssssshiiido...Come to me, Shido..."

With a near-scream, the vampire threw himself back from the edge, his teeth drawing blood from his hand to form the sword he used so well. He fell backward, rolled over and came to his feet, backing away from the gulf to have room to swing the blade, and watched in dread at what rose over the edge of the roof to meet him.

The eyes came closer...a soft form of mist gathering around them as if to shadow a form - feminine and angelic. Despite the benignity of the apparition, Shido continued to move back, slow step by slow step, into the most open area of the rooftop.

A gasp of terror and surprise burst from him as he bumped something where nothing should have been. For a split second he pulled his eyes from the golden female before him, to see the long golden waves of hair spilling partway over his shoulder. A masculine arm came around him, pulling him back against a well-muscled body.

"No, Drusla - this one is mine, and mine alone. You will hunt elsewhere this night." Cain's voice held it's old arrogance, and Shido squirmed, wanting to be free, and yet... He stopped in surprise at her voice, and the effect it had. His body shivered as if on the verge of orgasm, a wave of heat washing through him at the sound.

"Spoil my fun, Cain - you always were a spoilsport..." the seductive voice held a pout that was felt like velvet on the skin. "Wouldn't you share? He is very lovely, and we could have such fun the three of us..."

Cain's other arm came round the younger vampire protectively, and his voice went from cold to steely.

"I have told you once - I tell you only once more. He is mine - MINE. And if you touch him, it will be war between us."

The figure moved a bit closer, filling Shido's vision with such beauty he almost - almost - wished to touch it. Beautiful, and deadly, his mind told him over and over. Beautiful and deadly - remember deadly.

"So be it then." There was both challenge and amusement in the voice. "I'm very bored - a war would be a good way to relieve the tedium."

"I warn you, Drusla - you and your mistress could not best me before, and still less can you do it now. Leave him be - there are many others - you could even make one of your own. I will help you - I know the city well."

Her laughter was a soft furry sound that seemed to crawl inside Shido's skin. Without thinking, he found himself backed up tight against his sire, and feeling his lean hardness with surprising clarity despite being fully dressed, setting off an entirely different collection of memories.

"I - I know her...I've met her before..." he managed to stammer softly.

"Yes, Shido...when you were young among us, she was your - mmm - playmate would be too soft a word. But yes, you have met, spent time together." Cain turned Shido to face him - effortless as if the detective weighed nothing - and dismissed the woman with a meaningful glance. "I give you this choice one time – if you wish it, you can go to her – go with her. It will grieve me, but once it was our intention, so I stand by my given word. The choice must be yours – unforced and willing."

Shido blinked, looking at his sire with startled eyes. "I-what? No - no I do not want to go with her."

The ghost of a smile touched Cain's coldly beautiful features. "You will stay with me then, come back to me?"

Shido twisted in his sire's arms, slipping from his grip to face him, anger written in every line of his body. "I don't want to stay with you; I don't want to go with her. I want to be LEFT ALONE!"

Throwing a look over his shoulder at the woman, who still stood with a soft smile on her face watching him and Cain, Shido let the blood sword dissipate and turned, walking away from both of them across the rooftop.

"Shiiiido..." her voice called after him, sweet, light and as insubstantial as gossamer. "I will wait, Shiiido..."

Cain's voice was lower, and full of emotion that the other lacked. "You are being a fool, Shido, as usual. Impertinent, and foolish - but that is how you are. If you need me, call me. I will be here." Slight pause. "I love you, Shido."

The wind swept Shido's trench coat and twisted it behind him as he stalked away choosing to ignore them both. Finding a roof ladder on the far side, he jumped the low curb and disappeared from sight.


	2. Chapter 2

Shido arrived in his office just as the traffic outside was picking up for a new day. The sky was grey and matched his mood perfectly. Fatigue seemed to ride his shoulders, making him feel heavy and slow.

"Why me?" he muttered sullenly, as he reached for the doorknob.

"Why not?" came a sprightly voice in his ear. "Where the hell have you been anyhow?"

Shido just shook his head. "Good morning to you too, Guni," he said as she settled down on his shoulder. "And don't ask."

"Yeah, well I won't be the only one," the little pest replied, ducking under his long hair and wrapping it around her like a cloak as he pushed the door open.

"SHIDO! Dammit, where the hell did you GO! I've ben worried sick about you!" Yayoi was on her feet, coming toward him, and Shido couldn't remember seeing her quite this angry before. He held up his hands in a gesture of defense or warding.

"I was walking."

She didn't appear mollified. "Did you find any trace of the grandson?"

Shido blinked. "Oh, shit." He looked up at Yayoi and saw her blink, concerned. "I - I forgot." He shrugged apologetically.

"You forgot? Forgot! Are you alright? What happened last night? You just – disappeared and I couldn't find you."

She moved over to him, putting her arms around him, and he merely stood there and let her. He felt completely drained suddenly - not just of interest but of energy, of any desire to do more than sleep - maybe forever.

"It's' a long story," he mumbled, bestirring himself to walk over and take a seat on the couch. She watched him with narrowed eyes, sliding over next to him.

"You need to feed, Shido - you act like you've lost all your vitality. You've been with that other vampire again haven't you? That Cain."

Yayoi slipped off her jacket, leaving her in a silky tank top that exposed all of her long, lovely throat. Shido became aware that he was staring, although he didn't know quite why, or what he was feeling at the moment.

"I told you about him." he swallowed and shook his head. "But not about *her*"

His emphasis on the word "her" made Yayoi pause, and Guni's head poked out from among his hair. Both females stared at him, waiting for him to go on. When he didn't, Guni prompted.

"Her, who? Shido, who are you talking about?"

Shido shook his head abruptly, unseating the little imp. She fell off his shoulder, grabbing vainly at his hair, and screaming.

"Daaaammmmit, Shido!...oof!" She picked herself up and dusted off with melodramatic finesse. "Watch it, will ya?"

Shido appeared not to notice as his eyes locked with Yayoi's, and his arms slid around hers. "What were we talking about?" He seemed genuinely puzzled.

"Feed first, Shido, then we can talk." The woman smiled to herself as she slipped her arms around him in return, feeling the brush of his lips against her neck. "Later."

Yayoi's soft gasp was the only sound in the room as Guni turned slipped out the mail slot in the door, knowing when to leave the two of them alone.

"You've been sitting like that for hours," Yayoi pointed out, glancing up from her paperwork on the coffee table. Outside the sun was setting and the rain which had held off all day was beginning to fall. Inside the office, Shido reclined in his desk chair, feet on the desk, hands clasped behind his head.

"Thinking," is all he said in reply.

"You were going to tell me about some woman." she reminded him.

"No I wasn't." His reply was so bland, she looked up again.

"Yes you were, Shido," she looked him over closely. He looked better, certainly, with food and rest, but there was still something oddly fragile about him. "Why does she frighten you so?"

He looked over, his expression saying he didn't need to answer that. Then it softened a little, and he sighed. "Okay - I can tell you very little, but you deserve to know. I don't know how much this is going to affect me - and if it affects me, it affects you as well."

She waited, watching him, as he marshaled his thoughts. It seemed to take a while - his expressions varied from an almost blissful look to one that narrowed his eyes with pain - each a fleeting second as he sorted memories and words to explain. She was just on the verge of repeating the question, in case he had forgotten, when he took his feet from the desk and sat up as if addressing a client.

'Okay. I've told you about Cain - how I became what I am – or at least, as much as I remember. Well, there was a vampire - a female - he once had some association with. She says he loved her. I don't think that's possible."

He sighed a little, shaking his head as if to clear the memories away, and continued. "Anyway, her name was Annaias, and she was supposed to be as powerful as Cain. She took a daughter, just as Cain took me. The only difference was –is – Drusla is really good at being a vampire."

Yayoi nodded slightly, settling back on the couch. "This daughter was supposed to be your - wife then? Do vampires marry and all that?"

Shido's laugh was short and without humor. "Oh, they might - it's a power thing, not for love. They don't really understand love." His voice trailed off, hearing Cain's voice in his head, the echoes of his pledges of love. He cleared his throat. "At any rate, Drusla and I were companions for a while. It's what I was trying to remember last night when I was out walking - those memories are so fragmented, so elusive. But yes, what I remember is we were together for a short time, and she frightened me. She loves her cruelty, and her power. She would have made a good daughter for Cain. I'm sure he feels the same way by now."

Yayoi's presence seemed to bring him back from his maze of memories as her arms slid around his neck from the back. "It's okay, Shido. We will find some way to deal with her. Does she have a connection to the missing child, do you think?"

Shido unconsciously leaned back into her embrace and nodded slowly. "I was following the breed's tracks, and she showed up. It would be just her style - but if that's the case, he is alive. She wants toys and slaves, not bodies. I'm betting the accident either happened without her involvement, or it *was* an accident - perhaps she didn't see the car coming and the driver caused it trying to avoid her."

"Or there is another breed out there. Does she have pets like that? You said she has slaves."

Shido shook his head with surprising violence. "No - not like that. It's lust she loves, and power - not death. Dead slaves do not do your bidding; dead people cannot bow before her power."

"Sounds charming," the policewoman said with droll humor. "The perfect match for Cain in my book." Dropping a gentle kiss on his hair, she released him and went back to her work on the coffee table.

"Oh, you're wrong there. I hate to say it, but compared to Drusla, Cain is an angel."

Shido no sooner said it than his head snapped up, ignoring Yayoi's surprised look at his abrupt movement, hearing Cain's voice echo in his mind. "Shido, my love, you flatter me."

"Get out of my head, damn you!" Shido said out loud. The echo turned to laughter and died away, and he sighed, leaning his head tiredly in his hands.

"Feel like some fresh air," Yayoi said quickly, slipping on her jacket and settling an extra gun in the holster at the small of her back under it. "I think you could use it."

"Yeah," Shido got to his feet, and she was struck again by how fragile he seemed.

"Are you going to be okay, Shido? I'm worried about you."

"I'll be fine," he said with utter determination, slipping into the trench coat and picking up an umbrella for them. "I just need to quit thinking and get to work. We have a little boy to find."


	3. Chapter 3

"Okay, Shido - just *why* are we going in here again?" Yayoi looked at the front of the curio and antique shop and shivered a little. "It feels creepy, and we're still on the sidewalk."

"Call it a hunch," he said unhelpfully. "We've spent several hours looking everywhere else and found nothing. This place - I don't know - calls to me. So, let's see what it has to say up close and personal."

She gave him a sour look as she followed him in, stifling a sneeze from the dust raised by the open door. "Don't they ever clean in here?"

A small, wizened figure peered over the top of one grimy glass counter and its whitish eyes widened. "Oooh! Hello! Hello there...how can I serve you?"

Yayoi moved toward the counter, but Shido's hand blocked her progress after a step or two.

"Don't," he said softly. To the person behind the counter, he said, "I'm looking for something - someone, actually. Very special."

"Mmmm, of course. You want to come with me, then. I will take you to visit the mistress."

Shido exchanged a quick glance with his partner, and nodded, following the old woman, as it turned out the shopkeeper was. "Thanks. Can we make it a surprise?"

"Oh yes, yes…it will be a surprise." The figure moved sturdily on without looking back.

Yayoi slipped one hand back, touching her handgun for reassurance, and followed grimly in his wake. Whatever her thoughts, she didn't bother to voice them. The entire place still made her skin crawl, and it wasn't just the dust.

They went up a shallow flight of stairs to a long hallway. No lights were visible except for murky flickers from the candle sconces every few feet along the walls. The hallway seemed shorter than it should somehow, but Shido registered it only peripherally; his eyes scanning the walls as they passed for doors or other exits. There were none that he could see.

"Odd," he muttered, glancing up at the door ahead of them, the only one other than the one they had entered the hallway by. "Unless-"

The old woman hobbled ahead with a burst of speed, and opened the door in a quick motion, pushing it inward.

Shido turned, giving a cry of warning as he pushed Yayoi back away from the door. He felt a sickening twist as his feet left the floor, and the darkness grew, his sight now a mere pinprick of candle flame in an ocean of blackness. Then something sharp slashed through him, causing incredible pain, and the lights went out.

Yayoi had her gun in one hand, and only wavered a little on her feet as she faced the end of the hall. "Shido? SHIDO?" There was no answer. The door - open only a moment ago, was now closed. "Dammit Shido, where are you?"

Yayoi moved toward the door, biting her lip a little. "You'd better be in there." She reached out and turned the knob on the door to push it open. It ignored her efforts. Frowning, she turned harder, and felt the knob give, as the door splintered along the edge and the handle came off in her hand. "Wha-"

The door swung slowly open to reveal an old, empty, long-unused room, both dark and silent. Yayoi stared at the doorway for a moment, then dropped the broken door section and very slowly walked over and stuck her head through the doorway. Nothing happened.

"Oh damn, where are you?"

She turned, giving the door a seriously hard kick, and stalked back down the hallway, hoping to meet the little shopkeeper or someone, but the place was deserted. As she pulled the front door shut behind her on the way out, she blinked. The sign on the door said, "Shop closed for vacation." It was not due to open again for a week.

Gun under her jacket and out of sight, she quickly walked down the street in front of the building, looking at the windows. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. The back of the building had no windows, and only one door with a fire escape from floors two and three. The opposite side looked normal as well. By the time she was back to her car, Yayoi was out of ideas.

"Just great," she muttered, slipping her gun back into hiding, and striding for the car. She was going to need help.

There were sixteen messages from the chief on Shido's phone when Yayoi got back to the office. When it rang again, she picked it up. "Shido Detective Agency."

"Where the hell are you? Where is the Prime Minister's grandson? Why haven't you answered the phone all morning. Yayoi! I know that's you – what the hell's going on?"

Yayoi rolled her eyes, but her voice was calm, and professional. "Hello Chief. We are still looking. The lead we had last night did not pan out, and Shido is right now tracking the breed to its lair. I just came back for – um – ammunition."

She held the phone away from her ear as he continued to yell. "You really should calm down, sir, you're going to have a stroke—"

She was still holding out the phone like a noisome creature when Riho walked in. "Hello Ms. Yayoi. Where is Mr. Shido?"

"I'll tell you in a minute," she said quietly, away from the phone. Into the phone, she put on her best professional "don't mess with me" voice. "Sir – Chief! Listen to me. I have to go – I can't stand here on the phone, I have to go help Shido. I will call you back when I know something. Yes, hopefully soon. Thank you sir. Goodbye sir." She hung up the phone.

Riho was still standing, watching her. "What was all that about? You look tired – you want me to make some coffee?"

Yayoi looked over at the younger girl and smiled. "That's a very nice offer, Riho, but Shido needs us, I came back here to get you and Guni, if she's around."

"Guni's always around," came a sleepy voice from the pile of cushions on the sofa. "What's he done now?"

"Well, that's the thing. He's been tricked-kidnapped, something. It has to be some magic thing, and I don't know what to do about it, but I'm hoping the three of us can figure it out."

"Magic, huh? Okay, let's go," Guni flew up to land on Yayoi's shoulder. "You can't let him out of sight. It's like having kids."

"Is there anything we should bring along for him?" Riho looked around the office. "I – don't get to be involved in much of his work, you know."

"You're fine – let's go so we can figure out where he ended up. I have to find him – and the Prime Minister's grandson – in the next 24 hours or I think I'll be waiting tables on the Ginza." She held the door open, to let them file out first. "Which, come to think of it, might be easier, at least."


	4. Chapter 4

Shido's first thought was that he had fallen into water and was drowning. Of course, he couldn't drown – one of the benefits of what he was – but the sensation was unpleasant. The water felt viscous and heavy on his skin. When he tried to move, he felt something resist his progress. A smell like heated metal clotted his nose, and when his struggles to move became agitated enough, bits of liquid slid down his throat, causing him to choke.

The light grew a little brighter. He was in some kind of tank – upright, clear, not unlike a big fish tank. Through the side he could see a room – almost a normal room, but very opulent. A large carved chair sat against a wall, unoccupied at the moment. He looked down – and the black liquid he had been trapped in had a decidedly red tinge now. "No – oh no—"

Shido began to struggle with the restraints, biting his lip to keep from screaming. The tank was slightly more than neck deep in blood – blood and things that had supplied the blood. A bloated face bobbed near him, and he struck out at it in a panic, the backwash causing his nose to fill with the tank's liquid. He nearly retched as he felt it slide down his throat, but there was nothing for it – to open his mouth was to drown in the blood of how many innocent victims?

"Awake at last, sweeting," the angelic voice crooned over his head. "I'm so glad. You didn't take it at all well, coming here. My last thought is to hurt you, Shido – you were intended to be my mate, and I want you to fulfill that destiny."

Wild-eyed, he looked in every direction, but his bonds held him in place, and there was nothing he could do about it. Well – there was one, maybe; if his panic didn't override his early training. Forcing himself to calm down, he focused his eyes on a spot outside the tank, and reached for his seldom-used power.

Drusla clapped enthusiastically as Shido materialized on the carpet near her throne. Blood still dripped from his hair to slide down over his shoulders and torso. His bare feet could feel the pile of the carpet; his bare body could feel the bite of the air in the too-cold room.

"You are just as lovely as I remembered."

"It's worth a war to you?" Shido asked, not bothering to hide his nudity. He knew well she had seen – and done – far worse. "Where is the boy – I'm pretty sure you have him?"

"Boy? Oh – him. He's here somewhere. Why? What interest could you possibly have in a mortal boy?"

"Don't play games with me, Dru – I want him unharmed and returned to my associates." Shido made a face of distaste as he wrung the blood out of his hair, and twisted it behind him. He wiped the soiled hand down his hip and thigh, conscious of her eyes following. "You're just like Cain – you'll do anything to get what you want. You have power, wealth, eternal life and you play games with people's lives. What is it you want, Dru?"

"You know the answer, Shido. I want you." She moved toward him, a vision of light and loveliness that should have been angelic. He fought his instincts, remaining where he stood, and forced himself not to wince when she touched his bare skin. "We all have something we want, Shido. And we all have a price. What is your price?"

"Bring the boy to me – well, bring me some clothes first and let me clean up, I don't think he ought to see me like this. Then I want to see if he is truly okay and unharmed."

She regarded him smugly, with a calculating glimpse in her eyes. "And then?"

"If you release him to my associates, I will stay with you – for a time. Not forever, Drusla – I don't think either of us would survive it. But for a time."

He was suddenly conscious of her absence, the lack of pressure where her hand had been. A servant appeared to show him to a bathroom, and bowed out, leaving him alone. Setting his teeth so he did not scream in sheer terror and frustration, Shido washed the alien blood from his body and hair, dried himself carefully, and dressed in the clothing left discretely on the chair just inside the door.

A glance in the mirror gave him another shock. Unlike his modern garb, this was clothing of another era – one he had once inhabited with Annaise and Cain, and with Drusla. The memories were not pleasant ones. Looking at himself in the mirror, he thought he could see the ghost of his human self staring back at him; asking him "What are you? What have you become?"

"Shut up," he snapped at the image in the mirror, throwing the soiled towel at it, and turned abruptly for the door. He would think about it later; in fact at this point, he was sure he would have trouble thinking of anything else.

"Now, there's a good boy – and there is your uncle Shido," the honeyed voice said as Shido reappeared in the salon. The tank now appeared to be hidden by a curtain, and no trace of disarray marred the expensive appointments of the room.

"Mr. Shido, sir? The lady says you will be able to send me home to my parents?" The boy was all earnest black eyes under unruly black bangs. He was still somewhat chubby. Shido guessed he was perhaps six years old.

"I understand your grandfather is most anxious about you," Shido said honestly, crouching down to be near the boy's height. "Everyone is worried. I will send you home, then, so everyone will be happy. Are you okay?"

"Yes sir," the boy said, cutting a glance back at Drusla and dropping his voice to a loud whisper. "The lady has been kind, but I don't understand her. And I really want a hamburger – Father usually gets me one on Fridays."

Shido smiled in spite of his predicament at that simple wish and the innocence behind it. "I think that can be arranged." He looked over at Drusla. "Phone?"

She rolled her eyes, but pointed to one half-hidden by a throw on the arm of a chair. "Call then – meet them in Sakura Park – and I will be watching. No tricks, Shido."

"Of course not," he shrugged a bit, rising from his crouch. "I agreed to your terms, Dru – I'm a business man. I keep my word." He lifted the receiver and dialed the agency.


	5. Chapter 5

Yayoi swore softly as the lock clicked shut on the door, and the phone rang. She fumbled with the keys, with half a mind to let it ring.

"You should answer it," Riho said softly. "It might be Mr. Shido."

"Fat chance," Guni remarked, "but I'd answer it anyway."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm working on it," she said, throwing the door open and reaching the desk on the fifth ring. "Shido Detective Agency."

"You've been running, Yayoi. Be careful you don't hurt yourself in those high heels."

"Not funny, Shido. What is this? Where are you?"

"Meet me in Sakura Park, at the dolphin fountain, as soon as you can get there. I have the boy with me. Explanations will have to wait."

"Shido, I – damn, he hung up on me." She looked at the phone a second, then put it carefully down in the cradle.

"Was that Mr. Shido, Yayoi?"

"Yes, Riho. But he sounds very odd – I think we should be careful." She locked the door behind them again, moving on down the stairs to her car. Guni, riding on Riho's shoulder now, scratched her head with one finger and sighed.

"What's he gone and done now?"

"We'll find out in a minute, I expect." Riho watched Yayoi's back as they went out and got into her car. "I hope Mr. Shido's alright."

"He's pretty tough to kill," Guni said, cleaning her nails as she reclined across Riho's shoulder. "I wouldn't worry so much."

Sakura Park was one of the less-frequented ones, and Yayoi's sporty car had no trouble fitting into parking. "Wait here," she told the others as she got out of the car."

"But Yayoi – " Riho stopped, looking after her. "That's not fair – what if he needs more help?"

"I'll say it's not fair, and I ain't gonna do it," Guni said, launching herself from Riho's shoulder and out the open window. "Watch the car, I'll be right back."

Riho sighed and leaned back against the seat. "I just hope Mr. Shido's alright."

Yayoi skirted the unkempt bushes on the path to the dolphin fountain, keeping her eyes open for trouble. It was quiet – almost too quiet – and the place looked gloomy somehow.

"Over here." The voice seemed disembodied, but it was unmistakably Shido's voice. She turned toward it, and spotted him and a smaller figure that must be the boy.

"Shido?" She stopped, waiting for them to catch up to her.

"Yayoi, thank you for coming. This young gentleman needs a ride back to his grandfather's home, as you well know."

"There's room for both of you - I brought Riho, but she can sit in the back with—"

"I'm not coming. Not right now. Take the boy and go."

She watched him look away, and waited, but nothing more was forthcoming. "Shido, come back with us. You've done as I asked, you found the boy – now let's go home."

He shook his head, the pale hair flying out like a cape in the wind. "I – cannot. I have given my word I will stay – that was the price for his release. I honor my word, Yayoi. You can tell anyone who asks what happened."

His look was oddly intent, but at the moment, she couldn't quite put her finger on the meaning. "You – you're staying with that – woman, then?"

"I gave my word, so I must. I will keep in touch – you will know where to find me at need. But for now, take the boy and go."

"Shido—"

"Go! Go now –and do not look back."

He turned as he spoke and moved quickly off through the park, which seemed to darken around them. Yayoi looked at the boy, who seemed unaware of what just transpired. She glanced up again, but the park had resumed a normal quality of light and appeared empty but for the two of them. She held her hand down to the boy.

"Come, sir – we'll go find your grandfather."

He smiled as he bowed politely and took her hand, letting her lead him out to the car.

"Riho, we have a guest," Yayoi alerted her as she opened the door for the boy to climb in.

"Hello," Riho smiled at him, before turning back to ask, "and where's Mr. Shido?"

"He'll be coming home in his own time," she said, keeping her voice light. "All set?" At nods from the boy and Riho, she pulled out from the curb and made a u-turn, heading back for the precinct.

In the park, Guni flitted from tree to tree, watching, as Shido ducked around a stand of bushes, and practically fell to the ground. She fought the urge to go to him – some feeling that something was not right. And in a moment she had reason to be glad she had waited.

"I thought you were stronger than that, Shido," Drusla touched him with a dainty slipper toe. "Your feelings for these humans is – immoral."

"I did what you asked, I told them nothing. My emotions are my own to deal with."

Guni watched as Shido sat up, and brushed some grass clippings off his jacket. "Besides, it's not as if it matters anyway."

"Cain was right about you – you could have been the best of all of us. Instead, you throw away what you have and what you are." She backed up as he rose from the ground and resumed walking. Guni flitted along behind.

"Disdain, my pretty wife? You see why we would not have matched well – no matter anyone else's plans? You are what you are, and I am what I am. We are different, and will remain so."

"It will be in your best interest to try to please me, Shido. I can make your life miserable for centuries if you do not." He paused for just a moment, then moved on again in silence.

"Miserable bitch," Guni said to herself, keeping within the tree branches to stay out of sight. "Human or vampire, you're still a bitch. And I think you need a lesson."


	6. Chapter 6

Cain sat, concentrating on the music coming through the speakers with exceptional focus. It was a symphonia, one of his favorites, and sometimes (as now) he used it to quiet his overactive mind. He flapped one lace-cuffed hand at the soft buzzing by his ear without really noticing it.

"Hey, watch it!" Guni dodged the hand and hovered just out of reach. "Yo! Are you paying attention?"

Cain looked over, his face forming a scowl. "You dare interrupt me…" He reached for the flying imp, and she backed out of reach, shaking a finger at him.

"Temper, temper." She dodged around to the other side, avoiding a quick grab in her direction. "Look – I'm not here on a social call. We need to talk…"

"You dare! Do you know who I am?" He came completely out of the chair, tenseness crackling like lightening around him, to advance on her.

"Yeah, I know who you are – besides a big ego. You're Shido's sire, and Shido is in trouble."

Cain stopped abruptly, tilting his head. "Tell me!" Guni grasped the chandelier and settled herself on a bar – just out of his easy reach.

"That woman – Drusla – she's got him."

Cain frowned, but drew himself up in a disdainful pose. "I told him if he went to her, I would allow it. I don't like it – but I did say so."

"Wrong on two counts. Man, you need to get off your high horse, you know? He was tricked into it, but he gave his word. And you know how he is when he's given his word."

Cain unconsciously pulled the sleeves of his jacket down, leaving just the lace barely peeping out over his hands. After a moment of silence, he said, "So, what am I to do? He rejects me, ignores my teachings. If she can do better, maybe she should have the joy of him."

"Come on, you don't believe that. She kidnapped a kid so he'd have to find her, then made him promise to stay with her to gain the kid's release. She cheats, and she's a bitch. She's not being nice to him at all."

"And you know this – how?" Cain reached for the long coat he had tossed over a chair, pulling it on with graceful ease. "Where is he?"

"I'll show you – but we have to be careful. She has spies out. It took me a long time to find them all."

"Hmmm. Alright – I will come. But this had better not be a trick on your part. Your kind are – tasty."

"Ewww, that's sick." Guni let go of the chandelier and darted off to the window. "They're in an old residence hotel a couple blocks from Sakura Park – meet me there?"

Cain nodded and disappeared out the window, just as Guni flew off in a different direction. Two creatures with two methods of getting where they needed to be – but with one objective. Each hoping the objective was still holding his own, and safe.

"They are Night Eyes," Cain whispered softly to Guni. Having achieved a truce, she now sat on his shoulder, where she could whisper in his ear.

"Right - Three of them – on this side of the park. Two on the west side. I didn't check the others."

"I could deal with them, but that would raise the alarm. So I think we will draw on other powers for this." He hesitated a moment, then began walking forward, causing Guni to grab his collar to keep her seat.

"What are you doing? They'll see us!"

"They will not. Not the night eyes, not even the childe and her dam would see us now."

"You got some scary tricks, Cain."

"Yes, little one, I do."

The downstairs shops and restaurants were closed at this hour, but the delivery entrance was guarded by only one person. As they went by, the person shriveled and collapsed in on himself. Guni shivered.

"That's disgusting."

"That's how vermin die," Cain said calmly. "Remember that."

"What, are you saying I'm vermin now?" Guni ruffled her wings, looking annoyed. Cain's hand came up.

"Hush – I hear them." He paused, and both of them listened as they moved gradually closer to the room the sounds came from.

A distinctly feminine voice – without any of the softness promised by the sex of the speaker – rose in strident tones. "You – how can you still deny me? I'm everything you could want – I can be anything, look like anyone you want – why don't you give me a chance?"

The man's voice was mellow, but sounded tired. "You can't be what I want, Dru – you never could have been as a mortal, still less as what you are now. You're a monster who uses and destroys people – that's all. You enjoy being a monster. And I want no part of it."

"You'll change your mind eventually, Shido. You don't have a choice. I'll keep you with me for eternity."

"For all the good it will do you, you can try," he said, and the listeners heard footsteps moving about in the room. "I know a monster when I see one. Compared to you and Annanais, Cain – who I've hated for what he's done to me and others – seems normal."

"Doubts, Shido? Maybe you should have stayed with your sire when you took off after humans. He could have taught you to appreciate someone like me – "

The answering laugh was bitter, and even more tired. "Yes, I suppose he might have. That's why I left, although it took me long enough to figure it out. I lack the stomach for killing indiscriminately, and I lack the – shallowness of spirit, shall we say – to consider humans like a hive of insects, all the same, all replaceable. They are unique and individual and fascinating to me."

"Like snowflakes, huh? You're too soft – to human. No wonder he let you go." Her voice was closer to the door now, and held a hissing sound like a snake. "But I don't care – you're mine, my mate, my toy, my slave, it doesn't matter. You're mine, and you will stay with me as long as I say."

"Stop – Dru, stop it. I'm tired. I can't take any more blood loss."

"Oh, of course you can," her voiced crooned. "It's not like it will kill you."


	7. Chapter 7

Shido let out a cry of pain and – perhaps fear in the other room. Guni squawked as she felt Cain's shoulder disappear from under her, and she flapped hard to keep from hitting the floor. It was from that vantage she looked into the room through the now-open door.

Cain stood behind Drusla, with a blood noose around her neck. He was grinning.

"It seems we had a talk about this once before, childe of Annanais," he said smoothly in her ear. "It seems you didn't listen. Children have such short memories."

From being frozen, she began to twist, her hands clawing at the noose, but her nails, long as they were, made no effect on the blood cord that wrapped her throat. "What…do you…what are you doing…?

Cain licked her ear gently as he loosened the cord without removing it. "Call your dam, girl. I should have put an end to both of you before, and I will do it now. Call her."

"No." She scrabbled at the cord more as it began to tighten again. "I won't – you can't make me."

"That's true – but I can kill you and your death will draw her. She will know. But you won't be here to help her. I'm giving you that chance – call her. Now."

Drusla looked at Shido in appeal, but he was not even watching from where he was curled on the couch. Cain jerked the cord backward, taking her nearly off her feet, and his voice was very soft. "Now…or pay the price."

With a last wild look around, and seeing no help, Drusla screamed, "Mother! Help me!" Her hands continued to scrabble at the noose that tightened even more around her neck as Cain waited impatiently for a response.

A glitter of golden leaves swirled in through the open window, showering down on the carpet, and a female vampire stood there, immaculate as if she had just stepped from a ballroom in Europe. "I hope this is important, childe – you're interrupting my hunt," she said, glancing around the room.

Cain grinned again, releasing the girl to go to her maker, and letting the noose dissipate. "How nice to see you again, Annanais."

"Cain? Let me guess – my childe does not play nice with your childe?" She glanced at Shido on the couch and shrugged. "He doesn't seem playful."

"We had an agreement – and she broke it. You are accountable for your childe – what will you do about this?"

Annanais raised one eyebrow, and glanced from Cain to Drusla, now huddled at her feet, with annoyance. "Oh heavens, what a silly reason for a spat. We're vampires, Cain – we do what we must."

He watched her for a moment. "Think back. A long way – the day you created her. You told her – as I told Shido – the rules of our society. And she has broken them. I told her if she did that it would be war between us – and that includes you. The next move is yours, Annanais."

"You'd start a war over this? Surely that's a little – well – high-handed? She's a childe." Annanais began to pace, thinking, and leaving her childe where she was. "I mean – well – we haven't had a war in a long time…"

"True. It might be an interesting diversion. My hesitation is not from starting it, but that it would perhaps render us too few to fight the humans effectively – and they would surely know of our existence then, if not now."

"Hmm," she continued to pace a bit, twitching the wide skirt away from the couch where Shido still lay. "Well…I don't know. It's such a bother – and I think you're right about the attrition…" She stopped pacing, and faced Cain squarely, Drusla midway between them.

"Alright then, what do you want me to do about this situation? He's there – you can take him freely, I assume." She looked down and stirred Drusla with one dainty slipper toe. "He's free to go, isn't he?"

"But mother, I wanted…" Dru looked up, and nodded. "Yes…yes, he's free to go."

"There," Annanais said with a smile at Cain. "She's being reasonable. He can go."

"Fine, fine. Shido – leave." Cain glanced over, and getting no response, went to the couch and shook the figure there. "Shido?"

Shido's head rolled back, showing glazed eyes and puncture marks on his collarbone and chest through tears in the thin material of his shirt. "Shido!"

Shido blinked slowly. "Cain…so..tired…"

Cain stood up straight, and the shadows, both light and dark that he cast, filled the room entirely, dwarfing the two females into insignificance. His voice rolled like thunder.

"You have defied me, and defied the rules of our kind, and there is only one remedy for that."

Drusla reached for her mother, but Annanais, her face showing an expression of horror and confusion, backed up from her touch. "Mother – Mother please…"

"Why, Drusla? Why did you do this? You know it's forbidden – " She watched the girl slowly get to her feet, Dru's anger apparent in her movement now.

"Why? Look at you – you who taught me strength was our prerogative, and weaker creatures were to serve. He is not strong. I am strong. If he couldn't be my equal, he could still serve me. I wanted him to serve me."

"You should have made your own childe then," Cain told her, moving a little closer. "You should have found someone to do your bidding, to feed you. Instead, you tried to steal from me that which is mine. And for that, I will have your life and your soul."

With a last look at her own sire, who had made her position plain, Drusla faced Cain. "You aren't any stronger than he is. You say you love him. You laugh at him when he loves these human vermin. But you let him be weak. You have no right to do anything with me."

Guni cowered in the doorway, expecting Cain's anger, but she looked up, puzzled, when he laughed.

"You are young. You do not see the big picture," he told her, almost gently. "I keep the laws we have among us – few though they be. One of those is that I kill no other of our kind without permission of those with the right to grant it."

He turned his eyes toward Annanais. "Deal with her, or give me permission to do it," he demanded.

"I could take her back with me – correct her behavior," the dam said, looking uncertainly between Drusla and Cain, and eventually to Shido and back. "I – have been apart from her too long and did not know she had forgotten what she was taught."

"Forgotten what I was taught?" Dru faced her own sire in disbelief. "You are the one who told me I could do anything I was strong enough to do, anything I could bring myself to do. I was to be the predator, the top of the food chain. I was a god!"

The two senior vampires exchanged glances. "Sounds right," Cain said, tilting his head. "I believe you did tell her that."

"I suppose I did," Annanais admitted. "But I also said within the parameters of our laws, not by trying to set up a separate godhood."

"Well, then?"

Annanais looked at her childe a little longer. "Drusla, would you come back with me and let me reeducate you? We have been apart a long while – being back in our society would be good for you."

Drusla, her look shifting unbelieving between the two, began to shake her head, her voice rising in pitch as she talked. "Oh no…no, no, no… All the stuffy, critical, hidebound old elders who only want to talk politics and never do anything… I would rather die."

"So be it," Annanais said simply, vanishing in whirl of golden leaves.

"Mother!" Drusla reached out one hand toward her departing sire, then it went to her neck as she felt the noose again. She turned on Cain, kicking and clawing, her face a vision of fury and hatred. Cain merely let her do it.

"That's it – use your energy. Waste it. The energy you stole from my childe, which will soon be returned to him."

"You can't – he won't do it –" She fought against his grip still, but if anything, the noose only grew tighter.

"He will. He's changed – I've seen it and I can feel it. He is coming into his power, at last. For that, at least, I should thank you."

"He's weak – He will never rule as you have, never be a master to another…" She jerked against the noose again and again as it tightened. "He …"

"You tried, and you failed, childe. He is - and always will be - mine," Cain smoothly and quickly drew the noose closed. The head separated from the body and blood fountained in the room to pool on the floor. The body disintegrated quickly, with Cain shoving it aside as it fell. The blood he gathered up, shaping it with his hands into a basin.

"Eww, that's nasty," Guni said, walking around the dust and ashes that marked where the body fell. "Is Shido okay?"

"He will be," Cain told her, walking over to Shido. He held the basin to his childe's lips and blew gently on the surface of it, where it began to flow like water. "Drink, Shido – your power is returned to you."

Guni climbed up on the back of the couch, watching as Shido swallowed reflexively the liquid Cain poured from the blood basin. "I thought he had to drink from humans?"

"Normally yes – but this is blood taken from humans and transformed by the vampire body – it is more than blood, for it contains power as well. It is why we do not permit vampires to drink from other vampires."

"What would happen if I drank it?" Guni edged forward, looking at Shido's eyes which were not so glazed looking now.

Cain paused, and gave her an evil smile. "You'd be the smallest vampire ever," he said.

"I'll pass."


	8. Chapter 8

Shido sat up with a start, to find himself eye to eye with his sire. "Cain…it wasn't a dream, then. You are here."

The elder vampire sat back on his heels, still holding a thin crescent of the blood basin in his hands. "I am here, Shido. I will always be here if you need me." He let the blood dissipate.

Frowning slightly, Shido looked around the room, seeming puzzled. "Drusla – she was here. Did she leave?"

Guni flew up to the back of the couch, and slid down to sit on Shido's shoulder. "Ashes and dust, Shido. Ding-dong the bitch is dead."

Cain smiled a little at the imp's comment. "You will no longer be bothered by her – or her mother. You are free of them, Shido." He tilted his head, rising to stand facing his childe. "What will you do now?"

"Go back to my work, I suppose." Shido rose unsteadily from the couch, with Guni holding on to his collar to keep from falling.

"Hey – can't you warn a person?" She ruffled her wings and settled back down. "Yayoi is going to be frantic about you."

"I know. I will call her – soon." He looked around again, and down at the tattered shirt. "I think I'd better change before I leave here." Guni huffed off to sit on the chandelier as he began unbuttoning it.

"Well, I can see I'm not needed," she grumbled, ruffling her wings.

"So – you are going back to your old life, even though you are no longer the old you?" Cain had moved away to stand against the far wall, watching his childe. "One cannot step into the same river twice, Shido. It is not merely a homily – it is the truth."

Shido looked up as he ransacked the room for other clothing. "I don't know what I'm going to do – I just know that people are waiting on me, and worried about me, and I can't just leave them that way."

Cain nodded. "You could come with me – " He held up his hands as Shido started to say something. "Don't interrupt me. You have come into more of your power, and you need to learn to use it effectively. I can teach you that, for your power is like mine."

Shido sighed, holding up a shirt to check before ripping off the rags of his current one. "I need time to think, Cain. I have been through a lot in the last few days, and I am not sure what it means yet. I can't think with you badgering me."

Cain leaned back and crossed his arms. "I can accept that. I am only saying that you should learn to use your power, and I can teach you. It doesn't have to be today."

Shido walked toward the chair to pick up his coat, and paused, looking over. "I – need to thank you for your help, for my freedom." He sighed, pulling on the coat. "I do owe you quite a bit."

Cain smiled and tilted his head again, a gesture almost too human for his normal demeanor. "You are my childe, Shido, and I love you. I have this terrible feeling that you have corrupted me – I am no longer the perfect predator. I do not think I could have done what Annanais did with her childe."

Shido smiled a little. "It wouldn't have come up. I would never take someone against their will."

"True – still human after all these years," Cain said with a soft sigh. "I mean what I say, Shido – I will be here to help you whenever you need it. If you will let me."

Shido paused, and Guni – ready to take flight to catch up with him – wobbled on the chandelier watching as he turned and walked over, and embraced his sire.

"You should see the look on your face," she said to Cain as his eyes opened wider in surprise. Gently, almost tentatively, he hugged Shido back, ignoring the imp.

"I think I understand some things better now," Shido said, without letting go. "I don't know what that means yet – only that I realize things from a different perspective. Maybe – in time – we can be closer. I just don't know."

Cain's expression had changed from surprise to an incredible tenderness as he stood with his arms around his childe. "Then we will give it time, Shido. We have time."

"You might have eternity, but I don't," Guni complained after they'd stood a couple of minutes longer. "Is this gonna take all night?"

Cain scowled at her, but then started to laugh. Shido just rolled his eyes and gave a last hug to his sire.

"Alright, pest, come on – we have to get home." He let her settle on his shoulder before turning back to his sire. "I will see you again – soon," Shido told him, walking out. Guni waved and ducked under Shido's hair as the door closed behind them.

Cain watched them go, still feeling the firmness of Shido's body against him, and fought the urge to go after him. "As it was before, so it may be again," he said softly, thinking of their early days together and how much he had missed the younger man at his side. A feeling of elation gripped him. "At least, now there is a chance."

In the empty room, an errant breeze swirled the pile of ashes and dust that marked a vampire's fall, while outside, in the deep indigo of the night sky, a figure of light danced joyfully through the stars – smiling.

#end#


End file.
